Regional Report : REDONDO BEACH : Driven to Design Awards

Drawing pictures of hot rods and motorcycles used to earn Jim Searcy nothing but trouble in his 12th-grade English class 40 years ago. Today, it earns him a living.

Owner of a small glass decoration shop in Redondo Beach, Searcy designs trophies for automobile and motorcycle races across the country. The awards, which sell for as much as $8,000 each, contain intricate, three-dimensional images of cars and drivers sandblasted into sheets of glass.

For Searcy, 57, of Hermosa Beach, pairing his interests in racing and art has been profitable. Last year, his one-man workshop, Champ Awards, had sales of almost $100,000.

“Motor racing has always been my love,” Searcy said. “So it kind of went hand-in-hand with my business.”